History
In the voluminous and everincreasing literature of Angling a vast variety of interesting speculation has been compassed as to the history of the art.
There are well-known passages in the Old Testament which are quoted as proof that the ancients were accustomed to fish with hook and line, if not with rod; and inscriptions and drawings recovered from unearthed cities leave no doubt that the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans included Angling amongst their occupations or pastimes. The Egyptians must have brought their practice of the art to considerable perfection, for amongst the wonderful relics excavated from the tombs by Professor Flinders Petrie are well-preserved examples of fish-hooks of admirable shape and make, and in general characteristics not unlike the Limerick pattern beloved by salmon fishers in the present day. Here, again, is suggested food for fancy, and if there is no evidence (as some have alleged there is) that Tubal Cain was the first manufacturer of fish-hooks, and that one of Noah's sons was the first flydresser, there is no living person who can authoritatively affirm otherwise. The supporting argument that fish were the only outside animals which survived the flood is, to say the least, ingenious.
The old-world fishing must have been a matter of honest and everyday pot-hunting.
It would first become a calling, and then a ANGLING] science. However, early in civilisation Angling was evidently practised as a sport, and there are oft-quoted passages from Oppian that might be, with little alteration, adapted in describing a fight to-day with a big salmon or pike in a British stream.
Older Literature. The character and progress of Angling amongst the ancients are too much matters of conjecture to justify more than a passing allusion; but we are on firm ground in the period which may be said to be represented by the legendary Dame Juliana Barnes (or Berners), whose treatise was the first published work upon fishing, although it would seem that the earliest known reference to Angling in England is a brief passage in a tract, entitled Piers Fulham, supposed to have been written about the year 1420. The Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle goes, however, into particulars, and shows that fishermen of the day were familiar with the use of rod, line, hook, leads, floats, and fishing boats.
The Romans undoubtedly knew something about artificial flies, and used them, but it is believed that fly fishing was practised in this country in the fifteenth century, and the aforesaid lady of St. Albans gives a respectable list of the flies to be used in successive fishing months, her season very reasonably beginning with March instead of February, as with us. This list of flies, however, only refers to trout and grayling. In the next century Leonard Mascall published a book on fishing with hook and line, which contains much practical wisdom about fish culture. The angling pictures were taken from Dame Barnes. Early in the seventeenth century an angling poem published by "J. D." (John Dennys) teemed with sound advice and instruction to anglers. In these old books the development of Angling may be traced, and they indicate that the sport was well established amongst the English people. In the same period Gervase Markham issued his Art of Angling, which is to a great extent a rendering into prose of John Dennys, Esq." 66 Walton. Walton and his contemporaries may be taken to represent another period, in which the anglers were good all-round sportsmen. More than that, not only Cotton's contribution to the Compleat Angler, but Barker's little book, which was published before Walton's immortal classic, furnishes internal evidence of proficiency in the dressing of flies and use of the fly rod.
Walton probably took not a little of his information from Barker, who appears to have been the first English writer to mention the use of the winch in fishing. The old woodcut illustrations of this period represent the rod without the winch, but some sort of a reel (or as they used to call it, winder) was not unknown to the few.
After Walton there is not, for a while, much in literature to indicate in what degree Angling developed; but an active and cultured English Angling School arose soon after the opening of the nineteenth century, and Salter, Davy, Hofland, and others were amongst its head masters. The revolution brought about by steam and cheap literature gave an impetus to our play, no less than to our work, and Angling advanced with leaps and bounds, foremost amongst the leaders of the more modern period being "Ephemera," Francis Francis, Rooper, Pennell, and many others in England; Stoddart and Stewart in Scotland; Newland and Maxwell in Ireland. Anglers are now a great host; their sport has its periodical Press; a modern community is not complete without its fishing club; and Westwood and Satchell's Bibliotheca Piscatoria, which was published in 1883, catalogues over three thousand works more or less concerning fish and fishing.
Fly Fishing. Although in matters of sport comparisons should never be invidious, by common consent there may be legitimate distinctions. Hence fly fishing is universally regarded as the highest form of angling, and it is a claim which is not advanced without sufficient reason. For example, it appeals most of all to the artistic and imaginative fancy; it demands special knowledge; it requires delicate skill; its exercise is at once costly, and beset with difficulties of an exceptional nature.
On behalf of fly fishing it is further to be said that it is applied to the choicest of our fresh-water fishes, since members of the Salmonidæ, which are, technically speaking, the game fishes of this country, head the catalogue of species which are habitually lured by the artificial fly. These require the purest and best preserved streams for their habitation; sluggish and open waters are not their natural home, though they often do maintain an existence therein. The proper habitat of the game fishes is all that is brightest and best of our rivers and lakes; it is the stream which runs crystal clear and pursues a joyous course that is the ideal home of salmon, trout, and grayling; and not the least of the fascinations which make fly fishing an absorbing pursuit is the association it brings as a matter of course with the most picturesque phases of natural scenery. These are amongst the reasons why fly fishing is always lauded and magnified to an extent not possible with other branches of angling. It is often urged, indeed, with ample justification, that the fly fisher is by his sport brought face to face with sylvan beauties seldom visited by others, and that in his progress in or upon the water, and along its banks, he explores exquisite nooks and corners which even the searching eye of the wandering artist has not the opportunity of discovering.
Salmon. While fly fishing is considered the highest form of the art of angling, it is to be remembered that it is but a section of a general sport, and that it has distinctions within itself offering endless variety of attraction. In glancing at these, the salmon must come first into consideration. With some sportsmen fly fishing means salmon or sea-trout fishing only, just as the word "fish" in Scotland is an exclusive term by which Salmo salar alone is honoured. In trout fishing there have of late years grown up definite schools, but the noble sport of salmon fishing does not admit of much divergence from the settled practices of our forefathers; with the exception of developments here and there, not necessarily improvements, in the details of rods, lines, and artificial flies, the general principles of salmon fishing remain what they were fifty or sixty years ago, when there were eminent masters whose wisdom is embalmed in the literature of their day, and whose prowess has never been surpassed.
There are, it is true, other methods than fly fishing for the capture of salmon, and these have in the present day, perhaps, increased rather than diminished. By the fly fisher pure and simple they are viewed with disfavour. But there are excuses to be advanced. It is not always that a salmon will be in the humour to rise to a fly; and there are rivers, of which the Trent, in the Midlands, is the most conspicuous example, where salmon habitually decline to be taken by the artificial fly. They have been tempted with every known composition of fur and feather, yet to no purpose. Even “ in what are known as the sporting salmon rivers, for which enormous rents are paid, there are pools that are apparently by nature sulky"; the fish run into them and lie there, and may be caught by spinning baits, prawns, or worms, but as a rule they refuse the fly. Perhaps if salmon fishers would oftener try the experiment of sinking their fly to somewhere near the bottom they might be more successful, but it is not easy to persuade the purist that the wrapping of lead round the body of his Jock Scott or Durham Ranger, or the adoption of any other unusual device for taking the line down to the floor of the pool, consorts with the honourable canons of sport. [ANGLING The apparatus for salmon fishing and some other methods of angling will be treated of in more detail as they occur in future numbers; at present we are concerned with the general principles, and the mention of such matters as spinning, prawning, and worming for salmon may be dismissed with the remark that they are not in themselves illegal, that they are operations requiring great skill, and that, under certain conditions, they are legitimate practices if conducted in sportsmanlike manner.
Choice of Rod. The rod is the most important item in the fly fisher's equipment, and he should select one suitable to the size of his hand, the strength of his wrist, and the length of his arm, the inches of his stature, and his physical strength; he should be equally careful to attach to a reel, in balance with the rod, a line that, being neither too heavy nor too light, will work in harmony with both. These are first principles, and it may be added that the line or collar of gut attached to the winch line should be of a substance in proportion to the rest of the tackle as well as suitable to the kind of fishing to be engaged in; and that the artificial fly should be suited to the character of the water upon which it will be cast. These admonitions are the A B C of the game, but it is necessary to put them in plain words, for one often meets brother sportsmen who have fished long enough to have earned the description of experienced, yet who make their recreation a burden and their sport a failure by non-observance of just such primary considerations.
In spite of much written and oral advice, the man himself must be the ultimate judge of the rod that will suit him. The discussions which are conducted as to the relative merits of whole cane, split cane, or greenheart rods, should not persuade the purchaser to overlook the paramount importance of obtaining the thing that pleases, not his ethical notions, but his hand and arm. In the matter of rods we have learned something from American sportsmen; no longer is it insisted, as a hard and fast law admitting of no amending clause, that the salmon-rod must be eighteen or twenty feet in length. The longer the rod, the more power, of course, in the casting of the line, in its recovery from the water, and in the command of a fish when the hook has been driven home. There are, obviously, many advantages which may be claimed for a long salmon rod, but they are too often obtained at the cost of excessive labour. When the angler is either fishing from the bank or wading in the stream, a rod of seventeen feet is, in these progres- ANGLING] sive days, considered to be adequate for all the purposes of salmon-fishing, and many British sportsmen are adopting the practice of their comrades across the Atlantic, and are content in boat fishing to use a rod of fifteen or sixteen feet; but it is strictly SALMON ROD. لے کر 14-FT. TWO-HANDED TROUT ROD. * [The Editors have to thank Mr. C. S. Cummins for assistance in illustrating this article.] essential that the materials and workmanship should be of super-excellence. A length of line sufficient for all practical purposes can be cast by a rod of this description, and as for the playing of a heavy salmon, if the smaller rod entails upon the captor another ten minutes or quarter of an hour in the struggle, the eager sportsman will not complain of this as a serious hardship. There are well-known salmon rivers where angling is only possible from a boat, and if this is not the most scientific way of catching a salmon with the fly, it is largely practised, with most satisfactory results, and with the knowledge that if the operation of casting becomes in time monotonous, there are compensations in the minimum of tax levied upon physical exertion and mental excitement. The angler, however, whose enthusiasm is most warranted, is he who dons a suit of waders and, with well-spiked brogues, betakes him to the river bed, studying the places where salmon would naturally be found, regulating the length of his cast to suit the situation, and when fortunate, following his fish up or down, fighting him from terra firma. This sort of salmonfishing offers the chances of many a moving incident on land and water, of perils and obstacles, of the wit of man pitted against the wonderful instinct and pluck of the gamest of fishes; and he is not to be laughed at as rhapsodical who avouches that he would rather hook one salmon in a contest so fought out than half a dozen from the tranquil limitations of a boat. But boatfishing, like the use of baits other than artificial fly, is at times a necessity. The British pessimist is occasionally heard to assert in those very desponding moments when he pretends to think that everything worth having is played out in this weary world, that our salmon-fishing, amongst other great institutions, has gone to the dogs; but, as a matter of fact, in our rivers that are properly preserved and managed, this particular sport, taking one season with another, and considering all circumstances, holds its own with that of any other country.
For matters of practical comparison, we have to deal with Norway and Canada. In the early years of the century-when Sir Hyde Parker wrote that he sometimes had so much sport with the salmon as to be indifferent whether he fished any more for a week-sensational bags were made in Scandinavia, but we seldom hear of anything like such wonders in these days. In the rivers that are least harried by the nets, Norway salmon-fishing is still fine in favourable seasons, but the old flavour is gone. In Canada, also, the results are on the whole enough to satisfy an average appetite for sport; but given a typical river like the Highland Dee, where the riparian owners have wisely taken measures to secure a free ascent of fish from the tidal waters, and taking into account the duration of the season with its spring, summer, and autumn runs of salmon and grilse, there is no better sport in the world, although the size of the fish may leave something to be desired.
The legislation for salmon-fishing, which has long ago reached bewildering proportions, has been generally in the interests of the netsmen at the mouth, rather than for the sportsmen in the upper waters. The observer, indeed, who formed an opinion solely from the persistence with which in legislative action the sporting is sacrificed to the commercial interest in the matter of salmonfishing, would not be much out of order in defending Napoleon's dictum that we are a nation of shopkeepers. The worst drawback to the salmon-fisher in the British Islands is the caprice of the climate, with its alternations or long spells of drought and flood. Over-netting in the tidal waters is also the curse of nearly all the good salmon streams of the United Kingdom, and without early remedy by Act of Parliament even the commercial interests will be ruined by greed. A painfully notorious illustration of a salmon river temporarily ruined for the angler is the Blackwater in Ireland; once the desire of all sportsmen, it is now practically worthless for rod and line. [See also SALMON.] Sea-Trout. For the main requirements of legal phraseology and official regulations salmon and sea-trout are one; and to the angler the latter is the former in miniature.
Salmo trutta is angled for in the same way as his bigger relative, but with every item of tackle correspondingly reduced in dimensions. A double-handed rod of fourteen feet, with line, winch, and gut-cast in character, and small flies of bright dressings, present a kind of connecting link between the strong tackle that should be designed to deal with a forty or fifty pound salmon, and the dainty accoutrements of the practitioner who devotes his attentions to the nonmigratory Salmonidæ. Sea-trout angling, when the fish are running freely from the sea, and sporting at their best in the streams and pools which they affect as regularly as the seasons revolve, is superlatively delightful; there is no trying labour in handling the rod, and the sea-trout is probably the most sporting of all British fishes in his leaps and bounds, in his undying determination to yield only with his life, and in his bold advances when the right humour is upon him. [See also SEA-TROUT.] Trout. Fly fishing for fresh-water trout (as Salmo fario and his kind are termed as a matter of convenience rather than accuracy, since the migratory fish seek the fresh waters, and the non-migratory often drop down to salt) is the pursuit of the LOCH FLY. [ANGLING many amongst the educated classes; and amongst them there has of late years grown up or developed what is known as the dryfly school. The word developed is suggested, for probably so long as men have fished for trout with the artificial fly, it has been used both wet and dry. In the case of salmon-angling, it is not certain in what light a fish regards the artificial fly.
Opinions differ, and doctors disagree upon the question, but the popular idea is that it is taken for some creature pursuing its erratic movement in the water. The acceptance of this theory, however, raises the very vexed question of whether salmon are total abstainers from food in fresh water, and its rejection throws upon us the onus of believing that the mighty boil of the fish is merely playfulness, or an angry attack upon an object which has caught its attention and aroused its irritation. In preparing the fly for, and offering it to, the bonny brown trout, however, there is substantial foundation to work upon. With many of the movements of the salmon we are unfamiliar; the dark, swirling, heavy, eddying waters of a typical salmon pool forbid observation of its tenants, except when they condescend to break the surface at uncertain intervals. The representative inland trout stream, on the contrary, should be clear and sparkling, flowing over alternating deeps and shallows; and while the life-history of Salmo salar has yet to be written in its entirety and with certainty, we have little if anything to learn of the common trout from beginning to end. He is under our eye from cradle to grave. Although insect food is not by any means his exclusive, or even principal, diet, it is his choicest dish, and his preference for it is probably only limited by the everlasting problem of supply and demand. There are rivers once famous for their good trout-fishing that are losing, or have entirely lost, their reputation. The trout still exist in even larger numbers than in the palmy days of sport, but the insect life has, for reasons which are difficult to define, almost entirely disappeared, and the stream so changed is no more praised as "free rising." With the steady hatch of ephemeridæ a thing of the past, the trout fall into other habits. Though, however, the olive-dun or March brown may float down in single spies instead of battalions, the old instinct remains; the trout will rise to the ANGLING] fly when his keen eye detects the airy form sailing upon the surface overhead. The angler is therefore able to proceed upon tolerably sure knowledge; he knows that his fly must be presented to the fish on the understanding that it is to be in all essentials a colourable imitation of the insects hatched in that particular water, or the land-born flies that are blown to their doom from the sedges and overhanging bushes. In this respect the trout-fisher is a class to himself.
There are purists also here; while there are salmon-fishers who never handled a troutrod, thinking it beneath their standard and notice, so are there fly-fishers for trout who will have nothing to do with what they deem the rougher and coarser wielding of the big salmon rod, with its heavy line and strong cast.
Eyed Hooks. Until comparatively recent times, fly-fishing for trout signified the use of a cast of two or three or more winged or hackled flies, to be cast on speculation and allowed to travel down with the stream, more or less submerged. This is what is now classified as wet-fly fishing. It might be imagined, from the prominence given to the contentions and ideas of the new dry-fly school in periodical and per- SALMON FLY. manent angling literature, that all the world is at the present time a dry-fly fisher; yet the dry-fly school, though its members include the most eminent of anglers, is a comparatively limited one in numbers, and its history may be briefly told. A few years ago Mr. H. S. Hall, at the time mathematical master at Clifton College, sent a communication to an angling journal advocating the use of artificial flies dressed upon hooks with upturned metal eyes, to which the end of the collar might be knotted, as a preferable plan to the attachment of gut lengths as an essential part of the dressing of the fly. Eyed hooks had undoubtedly been known before in one shape or another, but the universal practice was to tie the fly to a length of gut. The advantages claimed for the eyed hook were: (1) that fewer flies were whipped off in casting; (2) that the liability of the gut attachment at the head of the fly to fray and break was obviated; (3) that the angler could always make certain that the even continuity of his collar or casting line was not marred by the juncture at the critical portion of a strand of gut out of due proportion; (4) that the fly was always ready for use on gut which could be kept in a proper condition to receive it; (5) that a stock of eyed hook flies sufficient for a day or a week might be kept in a box in FLOATING FLY a single pocket, and preserved in ease and safety from one year to another without danger of treachery from rotten gut. The communication thus published roused a widespread interest, and kindred ideas that had been previously entertained by a few anglers were gradually made known.
Dry-Fly School. - Out of the discussion arose the doctrine of the education of trout.
The chalk streams fishers laid special emphasis upon the virtues of the dry-fly as an antidote to the growing difficulty of angling.
They insisted that in rivers where the trout used to rise with regularity and confidence, and where sport might be reckoned upon as a tolerable certainty, the fish had become shy, suspicious, and in point of fact educated. The old-fashioned methods of fishing with a cast of artificial flies for such unnatural trout were deprecated as obsolete, and the superior attractions of a single artificial fly, made very small, dressed with upstanding wings, cast with a scientific calculation of direction and force never dreamt of previously the sine qua non being to deliver the imitation fly in the exact presentment of the natural insect, and in a manner that would ensure its floating upon the stream as if it were the real thing-were urged with eloquent enthusiasm. It was in this way that the dry-fly school began to acquire a name of its own; converts were made, and are still giving in adherence; and one of the results has been the evolution of an entirely different character of artificial fly. The dry-fly school of angling is said to include among its members some dogmatists who will scarcely admit the wet-fly brethren to brevet rank, but there is room for all and reason on both sides.
In mountain-born waters, like the trout streams of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, the fascinating old-fashioned style of fishing with a cast of flies rules as if nothing had happened; the rapid rivers must be fished in that way, and the master fly fisher for trout is the man who, regulating his methods to the requirements of the day, the water, and their ever-varying moods, can adapt himself to circumstances as an adept of all styles.
It is one of the leading instructions of the dry-fly master that the disciple shall remain inactive, possessing his soul in patience, and standing by until the trout are seen to be visibly rising at, and taking, the fly sailing down stream. On Itchen, Test, Kennet, and any other typical chalk stream, the angler may accordingly be observed, for hours together, watching for the rise. The wet-fly fisherman, with his cast of assorted winged, hackled, or spider patterns, like his forefathers, arriving at the waterside, comes into action at once, animated by the hope that the trout, if they give no sign of dimpling ring, are busy below, feeding on trifles borne at varying depths in the current.
Should they treat his flies with disdain, at least no opportunity has been wasted. The experienced dry-fly fisherman, where the character of the stream does not forbid, stations himself below the fish, kneeling on the bank to lessen the chances of scaring the shy trout; his aim is to cast his single floating-fly three or four inches above the mentally marked position of a rising fish, and to do this accurately at the first cast.
Simple as the operation may appear, it can only be done to perfection by the exercise of long experience and extreme skill. The casting of the line so that the floating-fly shall drop at the precise point aimed at and at once assume the position and appearance of the natural insect, and to do this when and where it will secure the attention of, but without alarming, the alert trout below, is one of the triumphant feats of fly fishing.
The whisking of the fly through the air by backward and forward wavings of the rod, and the length of line often necessary for reaching a distant fish, keep the angler in healthy exercise if the rise is protracted.
The former tax upon the strength may, however, be lessened, though not quite avoided, by the modern practice of anointing the fly with odourless paraffin, or some other unguent, by a touch of the camel's-hair brush on hackles and wings; a couple of flourishes will then suffice for drying the fly.
The wet-fly fisherman, who cares for none of these things, has the privilege, at any rate, of being constantly on the move, always hopeful that at least one of his flies will find a trout; while in the progress of fishing steadily up or down the stream he is able to change his scene with his chances at every hour. The dry-fly fisherman was a South of England product, and was the effect of which the educated trout of the chalk streams was the cause. In other parts of the three kingdoms, the wet-fly fisherman is the rule. but it is a rule the exceptions to [ANGLING which are becoming more and more numerous. [See CHAR and TROUT.] ous.
Artificial flies, either for salmon or the smaller game fish, will be treated of hereafter. [See SALMON, SEA-TROUT, and FLY DRESSING.] A general reference to fly fishing does not end with mention of salmon, Salmo trutta, and fresh-water trout. The grayling must have passing attention. This is a fish which, with many undoubted sporting qualities and one special virtue, is not always WAITING FOR THE RISE. a popular with trout fishermen. Yet it is one of the freest of surface-feeders, and has all the qualities of a fly-fisher's pet. Having an adipose fin, the grayling is, like the smelt, classed among the Salmonida, but in bodily appearance there is no other resemblance.
It, however, gives the same kind of sport, with, generally speaking, the same methods in fly fishing; and the special virtue hinted at above is that, when trout fishing ceases at the end of September, the grayling is at its prime, and may be fished for throughout the winter. [Sce GRAYLING.] Besides grayling there are a few of the summer spawners, such as dace, bleak, rudd, roach, and chub, which, for want of better, are not unworthy the attention of the flyfisher, the first four with small flies, and the last with large palmers, imitations of moths, ANGLING] bees, and beetles. Only in the hot months, however, is the sport at all worth the trouble of attempting their capture with the tackle intended for higher game.
Spinning and Trolling. These may be regarded as synonymous terms since, in the country south of the Trent, the second has fallen into disuse. In Scotland and Ireland, when fishing men talk about trolling, they mean the use of the spinning bait, especially as practised from a boat, and in the majority of instances the reference will be merely to the somewhat mechanical process of trailing from the stern. Trolling, however, is a word once of definite signification to English pike-fishers. It was known two centuries ago was in use, probably, long before what we understand as spinning was in vogue. One of the quaintest of the older angling books is the venerable Nobbes' Art of Trolling. Nobbes was a master of the now discredited method. Its main feature was the dead gorge bait, which is now discountenanced by all respectable angling societies and sportsmanlike persons, except when used as a means of warrantable destruction. As the process, therefore, will not be further described, it may here be stated that the bait employed is a dead roach, dace, or gudgeon, through whose body, from mouth to tail, is passed a leaded wire permitting the issue from the caudal fin of a short length of gimp looped at the end for fixture to the reel line. A rank hook, either a double or single, welded into the lead, slightly protrudes from the side of the bait's mouth. The small dead fish thus armed is cast at first close to the bank upon which the angler is standing, allowed to sink head first to the bottom, the angler pulling in short lengths of line in successive coils, working the bait up and down slowly in the water. The silvery fish is thus represented as swimming between and out of weeds, or as darting in spasmodic jerks from the bottom to the top, now sinking and now ascending. It is a deadly method of attracting the marauder lying perdu in the subaqueous copses. The pike seizes its prey across the middle of the body, twists it round into its bristling jaws and swallows (or gorges) it head foremost. The art, such as it was, of trolling, afforded wholesome recreation to generations of innocent pike-fishers, who never supposed they were sinning against the light. The secret of it was to ensure the complete gorging of the bait before putting any sort of check upon the line. The pike would sometimes seize the bait with a strong snap, which left the troller in no doubt of the fact, but very frequently the check would be so slight that the unaccustomed hand might suppose the sinking and roving bait was entangled with weed; if he then tightened the line the chances were strong that he would scare his pike. The custom, therefore, was to allow the fish to run unchecked until it stopped of its own accord; this it would presently do in pursuance of its habit of pausing to pouch or gorge. Fishermen used to time this period of expectancy ten minutes by the watch. When the bait was gorged, the gullet of the pike would so tightly encase the bait that the strong, protruding hooks entered its vitals. The victim came in with little fight, and there was no possibility of restoring it to the water after such treatment. Within recent times, as the stock of pike diminished in rivers where they were tolerated for sport, an outcry was raised against the murderous gorge-hook, the principal objection being that under-sized fish were ruthlessly and unnecessarily slaughtered. In many waters, as in the Thames, the use of the gorge hook is therefore prohibited. With this passing description of a method which is now only legitimate in waters where pike are ranked as vermin, and where it is desirable to kill them of all sorts and sizes, we are free to deal with the general subject.
Spinning is the cosmopolitan form of angling. Allowed to rank next to fly fishing as a fine art, it is of wide application, is applied to every description of game fish, is not only popular with the fresh-water angler in Great Britain, but with the seafisherman, who thereby with rod and line obtains spirited sport with such fish as bass, pollack, and mackerel, and is practised by the casual angler in all parts of the globe.
Wherever predatory fish are to be found, there the angler may remember the adage in whist, and when in doubt play his trump in the shape of some kind of spinning bait.
Mahseer in India, the hucho in Bavaria, the monster trout of the Canadian lakes, the prolific salmon of the Pacific, are alike taken by the spinning rod. The method is capable of varied treatment, and has some of the good points which are enumerated for fly fishing; the spinning man, for example, is not condemned to inactivity in a Windsor chair, or on the camp-stool by the waterside, but like the trout or salmon fisher is in healthy bodily movement during his term of sport. Another recommendation to the hardy sportsman is that spinning for pike affords excellent recreation during the winter months, when all coarse fish are in the height of condition. Even when the grayling rise but seldom to the fly, the pike are in keen humour, in prime colour and E form, with appetites often sharpened rather than depressed by the hard frosts and howling north-easters, which put an end to other kinds of sport.
Artificial Baits. The spinning-rod, however, is largely used also for salmon and trout. It is certain that the practice of Nd بل [ANGLING of an object that shall imitate, in shape and action, some form of aquatic life. The artificial baits which have been invented to effect this object are legion. They are of metal, gutta-percha, and of soleskin, in the case of the phantom, which is a collapsible object when out of the water, but a plump imitation of trout, gudgeon, or loach when, set in motion by the spinning-rod, it becomes filled with water. Some of the artificial baits, brightly glittering, or artificially coloured, are armed with fans at the head to ensure the spinning, but these permanent outstanding fixtures are not in unison with the tastes of all anglers; to meet their wishes a very effective pattern of artificial fish is produced, the spin of which is effected by a fixed curvature of the tail.
Notwithstanding the host of "notions" which have been placed upon the market as registered or patented inventions, there is probably no better all-round artificial spinning-bait for salmon and pike than the spoon, which spins, as the saying goes, like a flash, is without the complications which often render the ingenious patents useless after a few trials, and which, by the colouring of the inner surface (gold, copper, or even red), presents a brilliantly tempting appearance in the water. In the salmon rivers of Norway, in the estuaries on the Pacific coast, there is no more trusted lure than the spoon. For pike fishing also this rough and ready imitation of a darting fish is most effective, and when the pike run large, a spoon of five inches in length is not a whit oversized. It is maintained that the spoon as a bait for predatory fish was first discovered by accident in the United States, and at the Chicago World's Fair what was labelled as the first spoon ever used in angling was exhibited. The rude motherof-pearl and bone hooks that are used by the South Sea Islanders, and certain devices known to the New Zealand Maories when the white settler first visited them, were the crude originals of the beautifully finished spinning-baits of to-day.
Natural Baits. The small natural fishes upon which the ravenous pike, prowling perch, and dashing trout of our fresh waters largely subsist are, however, the most reliable baits for general spinning, and for their utilisation there is an ample choice of 1 PIKE ROD AND BAR-SPOON. spinning for salmon has increased during the last quarter of a century; and were all the truth made known, it would be found that many of the bags made upon salmon rivers, and published weekly in the sporting newspapers are made by the blue phantom, or silver and golden minnow. The principle underlying the art of spinning is to attract the fish by the movement through the water flights and hooks at the service of the angler.
The earlier kinds of spinning flights consisted of two or three sets of strong triangles with perhaps a single hook for insertion in the lip. For salmon or trout such hooks are mounted upon treble or single gut to suit the magnitude of the fish to be caught. The formidable teeth of the pike, and the ser- ANGLING] rated interior of his gaping mouth, render it necessary, however, to approach him with stronger gear, and the hooks should be fastened to a six-inch length of gimp, or a special adaptation of wire. The two objects which the spinner must primarily keep in view are (1) the employment of swivelled traces and bait fashioned so as to ensure regular spinning, bringing the bait through the water in, as far as possible, a natural course and manner of progression; and (2) regulation of the advancing object at a speed and depth suitable to the habits of the fish and the force, colour, and depth of the water. Spinning, if properly studied, requires intelligent study of the circumstances of the day. In fairly flowing rivers, the current will, in practised hands, like the action of the rod in fly fishing, do much of the work for the angler, while in a lake or dead pool he must rely entirely upon his own dexterity, unless he indulges in the harling or trailing in which the boatmen play a leading part. It must be repeated that the paramount essential is that the bait spins properly. The salmon- or trout-fisher who uses the phantom, spoon, or minnow may reckon upon the encouraging assistance of a lively current, which, in a measure, if he understands how to humour it, will take charge of the bait, and present it in the most perfect manner to the fish over which it travels; when the line is trailed from the stern of a boat a like advantage is ensured by the intelligently-calculated rowing of an experienced boatman. Anglers who have carefully studied the habits of the pike, which is the fish par excellence for the spinning-rod, frequently differ in opinion upon one point, viz., is it best that the bait should spin in a straight line, or in a series of jerks and gyrations? In this, as in everything else (notably in wet- and dry-fly fishing), it will be found that the best man in the long run is he who can adapt himself to all conditions. There are times when a pike that will run half-heartedly at the bait which represents a smaller fish moving in a decorously straight track, will rush savagely at the imitation which, by a different fixing of the tackle, is induced to progress in a series of awkward and fantastic evolutions.
The theory is that the appearance of a roach swimming at ease was apparently noticed without excitement, while the suggestion that here was a wounded or feeble creature, trying to escape, aroused the sharkish propensities of the wolf of the waters. overlooked in spinning, is the weighting of the bait to correspond with the character of the water fished. The latest tackles devised for spinning with natural baits have been brought to a high state of effectiveness; there are endless contrivances for fastening the hooks to the dead fish, and for concealing the weight necessary for sinking it in its own body. This is without question better than leads, detachable or permanent, affixed a foot or so up the trace; with certain tackles, these are, however, necessary, but a double splash is inevitable when the bait is cast forth by the spinning-rod. The bait leaded within itself, on the contrary, may, skilfully treated, be made to fall lightly, with but one disturbance. The detachable lead carries the distinct advantage of enabling the angler to weight his gear to suit the different conditions of water.
Faulty Spinning. - Too many spinning men seem to have an idea, if they ever think at all about the matter, that the fish for which they spin are surface or middle-water feeders, and the result is disastrous. Pike lie low, and spring upwards, as their mood finds them. To-day they will not budge for anything but prey that touches their nose; to-morrow they will leap from the deep out of water in pursuit. Mid-water is the happy mean for spinning, but quite close to the bottom is frequently the depth to which the bait should be regulated. There is no more besetting sin in the spinner, above all in the pike-fisher, than to work above the heads of his game. e. Another mistake frequently made is as to speed. It stands to reason that a fish must be honestly sharp set, and in the true fighting humour, to dart after prey that is scurrying through the water at express speed. The rapid spinner is like the fly fisher who plucks away the fly in over-eager fashion. The accomplished angler always avoids these two dangers, and will never rest until he learns how to weight his bait to a nicety at will, and to accomplish speed upon common-sense principles.
We have mentioned as fish which are systematically caught by spinning, the salmon, trout, pike, perch, and sundry sportyielding sea fish, but at odd times chub, carp, grayling, dace, eels, and barbel are deluded by spinning-hooks fairly taken in their mouths. Barbel are so caught principally in the state of restlessness incidental to re-- covery from the exhaustion of spawning.
At these interesting periods they pack to- The duty devolving upon the angler, any-gether in the rough water, and it is a daily where and at all times, is plain: if one method fails, try another. One of the most important considerations, yet one commonly experience during April and May for Thames trouters, spinning from the weir heads, to have their time and temper wasted E2 by struggles with huge, worthless, out-ofseason barbel. The taking of spinning-baits by grayling, and by the minor coarse fish, may be included amongst the things that seldom happen. These remarks upon spinning have of necessity involved frequent mention of salmon, trout, and pike, and it may be added that a so-called spinning-fly has been introduced into salmon fishing; the creation is distinguished by a pair of metal fans at the head of an ordinary salmon-fly, and the trace must be swivelled.
LIVE BAIT TACKLE. ("Jardine Snap.") Imitations of small birds cast with spinning or salmon-rod for pike, are often successful in shallow waters, in the late summer months, when the fish are basking among the weeds, but it is only by a stretch of imagination that this method can be described as either fly fishing or spinning. It stands as an independent entry in the methods of pike fishing, and with it may here be mentioned the much practised sport of fishing with live bait upon snap-tackle, by which the fish, struck sharply at the run, is hooked in the mouth, and has therefore the opportunity of return to the water if undersized or out of condition. [See PIKE.] ،، " Bottom Fishing. In angling, the greatest happiness for the greatest number is yielded by the humbler phase of the sport which has been, not too happily, designated as bottom fishing. The presumption that the plebeian denizens of the lake, river, and pond feed entirely upon the bottom is but partly warranted. As has been intimated on a previous page, some of the so-called coarse fish are surface feeders, and the dace is so much so, that it might almost be considered a link between the game fish proper, and those which are specially treated in the Act of Parliament bearing the name of Mr. Mundella, who took charge of the measure in the year when the Fresh-water Fisheries Act became law.
The remarkable increase in the number of anglers has chiefly been amongst the wageearning classes, who fish in the more primitive methods which may be followed at a minimum of expense and expenditure of time. The schoolboy who is born with the instinct of angling first puts his predilections into practice by a simple wand, a length of [ANGLING string, a painted float, a shotted line, and a cheap hook that is nevertheless all-sufficient for impaling the wriggling worm or pellet of paste, and for swishing out behind him the perch and roach which constitute his juvenile triumphs. The unpoisoned rivers in the vicinity of towns are still well stocked with roach and dace, with barbel, chub, bream, and gudgeon; and in the lakes and ponds there are stores of tench and carp, which are also occasionally found in rivers.
The apparatus used in coarse-fishing is cheaper and more simple than that necessary for the more aristocratic branches of the sport, and that is why, since the diffusion of cheap literature and the facilities for travel established by railways, the artisans of Great Britain have in their tens of thousands become patient disciples of Izaak Walton. All anglers are called Waltonians, but it is doubtful whether the old man knew much about fly fishing or spinning. He, however, was an adept in all-round fishing, and his memorable idyll owes its charms to his love for, and knowledge of, angling for coarse fish. The crowds of men and youths who go out of London every Sunday for the Thames or Lea, or from the large provincial towns to the rivers which flow near their homes, may not have read their Izaak Walton, but in the main they follow the directions which he laid down, and which have been adopted from generation to generation with very little alteration. To those who never personally angled for roach in the Thames or Trent, or for bream in the slow-running Midland rivers, the recreation, with its modest appliances, may seem ridiculously simple, yet in its degree there is as much skill required for success with these essentially shy species as with those which have been previously considered.
Rods and Lines. The most general form of bottom-fishing is for roach and dace. These gregarious fish shift their ground in search of food, cruising wide in summer, and retiring to the deeps as the weeds which supply them with food disappear before autumn floods and winter frosts. Their established haunts are the angler's "swims," and by the aid of groundbait the fish may, when they intermittently rove, be soon attracted back. All fish are easily frightened by disturbance or unaccustomed objects on the bank, but the roach is pre-eminently shy, and to be an adept in catching it demands long experience and infinite patience. There are also schools of bottom-fishermen, and they are in the nature of old foundations. Thames, Trent, and Lea have their own curriculum. The bankfisher's stock begins with a hollow bamboo 4 ANGLING] rod of eighteen or twenty feet in length, without rings or winch fastenings. There being no reel, a running line is dispensed with. The line for this rod should be fine, and shorter than the rod, for the fish bites gingerly, and the strike should be instantaneous; this is only possible with a rod that is comparatively stiff, even to the point, and length of line sufficient to permit of angling with the rod held horizontally over the water. Sometimes the roach bites boldly, and the quill float disappearing sharply, a P PIKE ROD.
ROACH POLE.
PUNT ROD. turn of the angler's wrist and a quick uplifting of the point hooks the stricken fish; with such a rod, landing is effected by unshipping the butt and reducing the length. Until comparatively recent times all the foot-lines were of horsehair, and many modern roach-fishers use them. To the human eyes, horsehair looks much coarser than the fine drawn gut which has extensively superseded it, but as it keeps free of globules of water, and does not glitter, it is probably least obtrusive to the eye of the fish. Mention has been made of groundbait, and although it is indispensable, in excess it is destructive of chances. Most professional fishermen indulge profusely in masses of moistened bran, bread, and clay pounded together. The object of groundbait is to attract and not surfeit, and no more is required in the ordinary forms of bottom-fishing than a few balls so kneaded that the lighter constituents slowly flake off when the bulk has found resting place; small pellets thrown in at intervals are enough to keep the fish, once gathered to the spot, in the swim. Coarse fish, like the bream, may have more liberal treatment, and bushels of grains are often cast forth over night to bring together a herd of fish for the angler at the earliest dawn of day. The favourite ground-bait for barbel, which has habits and haunts of its own, are large dew worms, whole or chopped, and chandlers' greaves.
Float Fishing. -The methods of bottom fishing are-float-tackle, legering, and paternostering; and of these, the first affords the popular summer pastime on the river, with legering as the tour de force for barbel.
The merits of float-fishing are apparent when the weedy bottom of a river is confronted, but when the bed is of gravel, hard sand, or clay, the leger will answer for almost any kind of coarse fish, and it is a method that suits the idle fisherman, who, having cast out his lead, through which the foot line is allowed to pass freely, waits until the "knock knock" at the rod-top signals a fish attempting the bait. In fishing a roach swim, the bait, shotted to trip over the bottom, is always travelling, to be withdrawn for re-travel as it reaches the end of the swim. The float drifts down its allotted course, necessitating no more exertion for the angler than its repeated withdrawal. It is, in summer time, a delightful form of angling. The different ways in which these plebeians of the coarse-fish streams bite give zest to the sport. The roach nibbles so tenderly that, to an ordinary eye, the float is not disturbed, but the Thames or Lea expert will have noticed the faint movement, and, striking at the right time, secured his prize. The dace pulls down the tell-tale with decision; the little gudgeon does the same; the wary carp (when it can be induced to feed at all) is also a bold customer. The perch, beloved of youngsters for his dashing, fearless habits, also leaves no doubt as to his proceedings under water. The tench, one of the least common of the coarse fishes, trifles with the bait before taking it, with leisurely movement. The bream is also a slow biter; and the fish has a habit of playing with the bait for several minutes before the final seizure. The float meanwhile will be bobbing and slanting, and even lying flat on the water, a position caused by the fish rising with the bait in its mouth.
Nor is it always safe to strike at this abnormal movement. It is much better to wait a moment or two, when the horizontal position will be gradually changed; the quill will slant off to the perpendicular, and then quickly disappear for final conclusions.
The gamest of coarse fishes is the stronglybuilt barbel. Fishing "fine and far off," is a golden maxim for bottom-fishers, and one of the verities is a thorough acquaintance with the bed of the river. The plummet is the means to this end, and the practised angler would as soon think of going out without this useful article as without his hook.
Nottingham Method. The two high schools of bottom fishers, Thames and Trent, were once sharply defined, but they have learnt to adopt each other's styles. The principle of the Nottingham men was the travelling tackle, or "long corking"; in other words bottom fishing at a long distance from the angler's base. The special tackle for this is a long and supple rod, upright rings, a Nottingham reel without check or complications, the finest undressed silk lines, and quill or cork float. The angler, by this method, keeps absolutely out of sight of the fish. The Nottingham system of casting is flattered by imitations, and has become fashionable in salmon, trout, and pike fishing. It is difficult to master; everything is done from the free running winch, and the difficulty is so to regulate the reel that there shall be no overrunning. The angler in preparing to cast, winds in his baited line until less than a yard length is left hanging from the top ring. He turns partly away from the water to effect the necessary swing over his left shoulder, and the skilful practitioner, bringing his shotted line round with a nicely adjudged swing, casts an incredible distance. This is one of the approved methods of casting the phantom, or angel minnow for salmon or trout. With the Nottingham style, the coiling of the line on the grass, in the hand, or on the bottom of a boat, as with other methods, is avoided; and the fisherman is able to work without danger or confusion when there are obstacles behind or around him on the margin of the stream.
The Angler's Equipment. - To describe in full the paraphernalia which furnish an angler's equipment, would be impossible and profitless. Without any extra encouragement, he is prone to overburden himself with non-essentials. Whatever branch of the sport he favours, he at least cannot do without his rod. There was a time when the ingenious makers of the United States [ANGLING were able, without deadly sin, to boast that we of the old country were centuries behind.
Fishing so often as they do from boats in vast waters where there are no obstacles to the play of a fish, they were able to reduce the length of their rods and the corresponding tackle to the smallest proportions. Their special pre-eminence was in split cane rods, generally of six sections of selected cane glued together. We have overtaken them, and have for years produced rods that are not to be surnever- SECTION OF SPLIT CANE passed. The split cane rods, in spite of their costliness, are highly appreciated, and English patterns are now exported to the Colonies, the Continent and America. Many salmon-fishers theless remain faithful to the stouter, heavier, and cheaper, but not less serviceable, greenheart. It is the same with trout- as with salmonrods in this respect. The selection, as has already been suggested, is a matter to be decided by the angler himself; the neophyte, of course, will take the counsel of a competent adviser; ornamental fittings are no harm if they are no good, and there is no law against buying a rod because it is the latest pattern. But the real desideratum is a weapon that can be handled without discomfort. The middle course lies between the extremes of stiffness and suppleness.
With respect to a stiff fly-rod_there are almost as many pros as cons. It is true that with a stiff rod the cast may be better delivered, the fly more decisively taken from the water, and a maximum of power obtained in a rough adverse wind, but flies are oftener whipped off, and the physical strength is more severely taxed. The springy rod is not so easily managed, but practice makes perfect; and when the taste has been acquired, as with the devotees of Castle Connell, it lasts for a lifetime.
Another consideration in the choice of a fly rod is, ferrule v. splice. The advocates of the splice declare that the rod can be put together as quickly as the ferruled, but this is theory and not practical experience with the majority. There is no question that a well-spliced rod offers a harmony of play from butt to point which cannot possibly be obtained with the ferruled; but the balance of argument is on the side of the ferrule, especially in these days when automatic fastenings have been invented, removing the objection often heard to the inconvenience of tying the joints together. a ANGLING] Rod Woods. Although a number of new woods are continually tried for the manufacture of rods, the familiar materials are still the best. Greenheart is the timber most largely imported for rod making. The tree grows in British Guiana, and none but picked selections should be worked up by the rod-makers. Lancewood, of which the top joints were formerly made, being less heavy than greenheart, has gone a little out of fashion, except for the cheaper sort of trout-rod. The hickory used for the common rods turned out by the wholesale firms is the American variety. Ash was once an indispensable butt for all kinds of fishing rods, and when the wood is well seasoned may always be depended upon.
Washaba, mahoe, snakewood, and, most recently of all, another West Indian timber, called steelwood, enter into the composition of trout-rods, but do not oust the greenheart. The canes, however, have apparently come to stay, and the whole, or hollow, bamboo or cane, as it is termed in contradistinction to the solid split cane, is now much used for salmon- and trout-rods.
The bamboo rods are very light and remarkably strong, but they are apt to weaken at the ferrule. Canes are mostly shipped from India.
Winches.-Next to the rod is the winch; and this mechanism, much more than any other part of the angler's equipment, has monopolised the ingenuity of the patentee.